A Neutron Spectrometry for Fusion Plasmas

TL;DR

This paper presents a method for measuring the energy spectrum of fast neutrons in fusion plasmas using a liquid scintillation detector and spectrum unfolding techniques, crucial for plasma diagnostics.

Contribution

It introduces a neutron spectrometry approach employing NE-213 detectors and spectrum unfolding to accurately measure neutron energies in fusion environments.

Findings

Successful measurement of fast neutron energy spectrum

Effective neutron/gamma discrimination achieved

Spectrum unfolding validated with neutron generator data

Abstract

It is very important to measure the plasma performances of fusion reactors such as fuel ion density, plasma temperature, fusion power, fast neutron energy, and neutron flux. Various diagnostic systems are needed to measure fast neutron properties in fusion plasmas. Generally, various types of neutron cameras and monitors are used. These systems are sensitive to neutron as well as gamma-ray radiation. Therefore, monitor systems that distinguish between neutron and gamma rays should be used. In this study, the NE-213 liquid scintillation detector was selected, and Pulse Shape Discriminator (PSD) NIM unit was used for the neutron/gamma-ray discrimination. True spectrum was found by unfolding the spectrum obtained by the reaction of neutrons to the protons in the detector with the FERD-PC computer code. In this study, the energy spectrum of fast neutrons produced in a neutron generator was measured by the unfolding method.